Who's your daddy? Hiram Biram's your daddy! (I talk to Scott H. Biram and he's as cool as I expected.)

in

I'd like to think I'm a good music fan. ​When I see a band I don't know opening a show I'm attending I try to familiarize myself with said band. Sometimes it's just another band, but in the case of G.Love & Special Sauce's show in Vancouver in March of 2012 the opener was Scott H. Biram. It was love at first hear. His music is genre-blending madness, crushing boundary lines all over the place. it was with furious energy that I started to devour his catalogue and in late 2012 I tracked him down somewhere outside of Phoenix for a chat about being a one-man band, religious imagery and his general bad-assery for one of my weekly columns. Finally the whole thing sees the light of day. I hope you enjoy it and find it as interesting as I did. Welcome to the First Church of the Ultimate Fantacism!

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Macklemore & Ryan Lewis break a record and I hope it's a sign of a changing landscape.

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The good people at allhiphop.com report that talented guys and generally cool dudes Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have set a record for being at #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop (aka Billboard's Black Attack Chart) for 12 consecutive weeks with the insanely catchy "Thrift Shop".

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Lip$ha - I am aroused by aggressive weirdness.

in

​Yesterday, in the now ubiquitous format of a reddit AMA, Flaming Lips frontman and noted eccentric Wayne Coyne released information about an upcoming full-length album with trash-pop queen Ke$ha, entitled Lip$ha. This comes as exciting news for me as one of last years great "guilty pleasures" (A term that I kind of loathe) was Ke$ha's "Warrior". That record wormed its way into my brain with it's brash, gleeful rowdiness.

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Reggae music kept Clinton Fearon on the path to happiness.

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The great Roger Steffens told me that reggae music is "the sound of the beating human heart at rest," and few musicians embody the warmth and peace of the music like Clinton Fearon. Through his work with the Gladiators, the Defenders and his solo work, Fearon has been keeping roots reggae alive and well for over four decades. I got the chance to talk with him before 2012 Victoria Ska Fest​ about his own introduction to reggae, the changing landscape of the genre and working for shifty contractors. Enjoy!

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Tech N9ne is much more sane than his rapping indicates.

in

When I heard independent music titan Tech N9ne was coming to Victoria, I jumped at the chance to talk with the Klusterfuck himself. We had a great chat about youthful energy, religion, fan expectations and the importance of smiles.

"​A lot of people shun my music because of the imagery and because it isn't the norm. When something's not the norm people don't understand it and they try to destroy it because they can't control it. One thing you can't control is me."

Even if you've never heard the man, step into the mind of a fascinating artist and the most technically skilled rapper working today.

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